Ranunculus.) RANUNCULACES. 7 
Nort Isnanp: Palliser Bay, Colenso! Ocean beach near Wellington, 
Buchanan. Sours Isuanp: Moist gravelly places near Lake Tekapo, 7’. F’. C. 
Otago—Hyde, Beaumont, Speargrass Flat, Ida Valley, Lake Wanaka, Petrie ! 
Gimmerburn, Kirk ! Altitudinal range from sea-level to 2500 ft. 
3. RANUNCULUS, Linn. 
Herbs with petioled entire lobed or dissected leaves and yellow 
or white flowers. Sepals 3-5, deciduous. Petals usually about 5, 
but varying in number from 4 to 20, with 1-3 glandular pits or 
scales near the base. Stamens many. Carpels usually numerous ; 
styles short; ovules solitary, ascending. Achenes numerous, 
1-seeded, collected into a globular or ovoid head, tipped with the 
persistent straight or recur ved style. 
A large genus of about 175 species, dispersed over the whole world, but most 
numerous in temperate or cool regions. In New Zealand it forms a very con- 
‘Spicuous portion of the mountain vegetation, especially in the South Island; 
some of the species, as R. Lyalliiand R. insignis, being the finest known. Many 
of them are exceedingly variable and difficult of discrimination, especially in 
the section with compressed achenes. Of the 37 species known, 4 are found in 
Australia, 1 in Chili, and another in Kerguelen’s Island; the remaining 31 
are endemic. In addition to the native species, 8 or 9 from the Northern 
Hemisphere haye become naturalised as weeds in pastures and waste places, the 
most abundant being R. bulbosus, L., R. hirsutus, Curt. (R. sardous, Crantz), 
and the typical state of R. parvifldrus, L. References to descriptions of these 
will be found in the appendix. 
A. Stems tall, erect. Fiowers large. Achenes villous or silky. 
* Flowers white. 
Leaves large, peltate, margins simply crenate .. 2. 1. A. Lyalln. 
Leaves -3-5-partite or dissected; segments usually linear 2. R. Buchanani. 
** Flowers yellow. 
Villous. Leaves rounded-cordate or reniform, crenate- 
lobed 2 Me 4: Bc ait .. 3d. KR. msignis. 
‘Glabrous. Leaves broadly oblong, crenate. Achenes only 
slightly hairy Ae a, At a .. 4. R. Godleyanus. 
B. Stems erect, without creeping stolous. Achenes glabrous, turgid or angled, 
not compressed or margined, never muwricate or tuberculate. 
*Stems usually stout, 4-16in. high. Leaves broad, reniform to ovate, 
coarsely crenate or dentate. 
Leayes reniform to ovate. Scapes 1-many- flowered. 
Petals twice as long as the sepals ts 5. R. Monrot. 
Leaves rounded-reniform. Scape thickened above, seldom 
more than 1-flowered. Petals hardly longer than the 
sepals ahs ae ; i fs .. 6. BR. pingris. 
** Stems tall, slender. Leaves deeply cut and lobed. Petals narrow, 8-15. 
Pilose, stems 1-3ft., many-flowered. Flowers 1—13}in. 
diam. .. 5 .. 7. RB. wivicola. 
‘Glabrous or slightly ‘pilose, stems 6- Sin., few-flo wered. 
Flowers 3-1 in. diam. ofc .. 8. R. geranitfolius. 
